Learning to be aware, Love and live fully through daily experiences

December 26, 2006

Auspicious Day

Are you thinking about your New Year's Resolutions? This is a time when people make resolutions, mainly because we've learned that that's what we are supposed to do at this time of year. Just like birthdays, New Years Day is only one day out of an entire year, one day out of an entire lifetime and it's arbitrary. New Year's Day could be celebrated at different times of the year by different cultures. Our civilization decided on a demarcation of time to represent a one year period, and so it goes around.
Without New Year's day however, we would simply live life as it happens, without worrying about making resolutions once per year. If we want to change our lives, we would just do it. The change might come in July or August. We couldn't say, "I'll work on that next year." Without New Year's that would turn out to be a vague statement of desire like, "I'll work on that sometime, later." It's a matter of perspective I think. Often we make New Year's resolutions, with the intention of doing them usually with the purpose of changing our lives, but they never happen. We start out strong, with good intentions and after a concerted effort at the beginning, we lose sight of our goals, or at least lose motivation to do what's necessary to change. And then it haunts us for a whole year until we are reminded of just how many resolutions we let slip over the year.
Some people, like me, have sworn off making New Year's Resolutions altogether, because I believe it's better to work towards understanding ourselves all year and feel it's counter productive to make New Year's resolutions in the traditional way. Making resolutions is a good idea, but just not in the way we've been taught; mainly to make an oath on New Year's Eve under the influence of alcohol, to achieve something we have no clue as to how to we will achieve it. In addition to that, I believe it's not good to be too hard on ourselves over the past. Yes, change if you don't like what you see, but don't let the past drag you into the mud and six feet under or keep you there if you've already buried yourself. Love yourself by finding solutions not self-destruction.
So, where does this leave the Auspicious Day of New Years? It moves it to the realm of thought. As everyone else is thinking of New Year's resolutions, we naturally think about our lives and what dreams we have and have not attained. Our desires and dreams come to the surface when summoned and we realize when we have done nothing to reach our goals. Or it can be a time of reflection and amazement at how far we've come in the past year. How much growth did we go through? Whether we make a New Year's resolution or not, It's auspicious to think about our own change. It's auspicious to think about how we can make a difference in life and how we can make a difference to those around us.
I took a good strong look at my life this past summer and made a resolution for change. It was not easy, but I changed jobs and changed directions my career was headed. It was very difficult to leave my comfort zone and be put under the spotlight in a new company, new job. But now I'm into my eleventh week on the new job and it's going ok. I do feel like it's getting better, but I wasn't so sure at first. I was also afraid I'd miss this transition feeling between a "newbie" and a 'real' employee and wake up one day to realize that I'm one of them. I'm not done changing though. I started some major changes when I started this job, like learning how to be more organized and communicate with others better. So as I look back at my life so far since changing jobs, I can honestly say I am happy that I moved on. That is an auspicious awareness.
Now on to my New Year's Resolutions. Yes, I did say I don't make New Year's resolutions any more, but my fate is tied to someone I plan on helping who is making a New Year's resolution. On this auspicous day of New Year's, she will embark on a remarkable journey, along with me. It's not's going to last a year, but a lifetime. Change doesn't happen in a year, but over the rest of our lives. In other words If we make a lasting change, it will last. I look foward to encouraging and being part of this new growth in another person. That will be rewarding.
To simply state her goals and mine for the New Year, and life, I will say that we will become better writers and know each other better than we did in the past. We cannot lose in this process. It's an auspicious idea after all.